Smash Comics Vol 1 18
Supporting Characters: * Antagonists: * Miss White and her seven dwarfs Other Characters: * Locations: * Items: * Vehicles: * | Writer2_1 = | Penciler2_1 = Alex Blum | Inker2_1 = Alex Blum | StoryTitle2 = Purple Trio: "Seal of Justice" | Synopsis2 = | Appearing2 = Featured Characters: * ** ** ** Supporting Characters: * Villains: * Rajah Fakir Other Characters: * Locations: * Items: * Vehicles: * | Writer3_1 = Vernon Henkel | Penciler3_1 = Vernon Henkel | Inker3_1 = Vernon Henkel | StoryTitle3 = Chic Carter: "Crashing the Concentration Camp" | Synopsis3 = | Appearing3 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Villains: * Other Characters: * Lloyd Nelson * Anna Monfried Locations: * Items: * Vehicles: * | Writer4_1 = Bob Powell | Penciler4_1 = Bob Powell | Inker4_1 = Bob Powell | StoryTitle4 = Abdul the Arab: "The Story of Sunyan Tse" | Synopsis4 = | Appearing4 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Villains: * Other Characters: * Locations: * Items: * Vehicles: * | Writer5_1 = George E. Brenner | Penciler5_1 = George E. Brenner | Inker5_1 = George E. Brenner | StoryTitle5 = Bozo the Robot: "The Return of Dr. Von Thorp" | Synopsis5 = Von Thorp escapes prison and attempts to regain control of his Iron Monster but is killed. | Appearing5 = Featured Characters: * ** Antagonists: * | Writer6_1 = Will Eisner | Penciler6_1 = Dan Zolnerowich | Inker6_1 = Dan Zolnerowich | StoryTitle6 = Espionage Starring Black X: "The Battle of Bermuda" | Synopsis6 = Axis warships, plus a minefield, are blockading Bermuda. Aboard the unnamed U.S. flagship, on a moonless night, Black X briefs Admiral Jepson, then he and Batu sneak past the Axis ships in a small sailboat, and reach Bermuda. After a huddle with the unnamed Governor, Black X is authorized to assemble and command a long line of tied-together torpedo boats, small boats, and rafts, which he then uses to mine-sweep a clear path thru the Axis minefield.(Nobody local has thought of this; no Brit nor U.S. Navy man has thought of this; a secret agent has to come to Bermuda from Washington to make this happen?) Several heavy U.S. warships sail thru the gap to Bermuda and they engage the enemy fleet in an old-school naval gunfight, augmented by Black X & Batu in their torpedo boat. Black X suddenly realizes, based on no new info seen by us, that enemy paratroops will soon be landing on the opposite side of Bermuda, so they scoot around the island and set up a machinegun nest next to a wharf where these paratroopers are assembled. The paratroops, inexplicably wearing paradeground dress uniforms, with jodphurs, plan to move in boats to their attack on the island's fortifications, but now here's Black X shooting up the boats, so they mass-attack the m.g.nest, at an absurd cost in mowed-down casualties, then they suddenly swarm the position but inexplicably none of these paratroops are still carrying the bayoneted rifles we saw on the previous page, so there's a fistfight, which goes on until Batu (sent inland earlier, to fetch grenades) shows up with a force of U.S.Marines. Soon the bad guys are routed and Bermuda is again secure. In the last panel, Black X seems to have uncharacteristically not yet returned to WDC, but is still in Bermuda basking in the accolades of the admiral and governor. | Appearing6 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Antagonists: * Axis military forces Other Characters: * Admiral Jepson * Governor of Bermuda * Locations: * Vehicles: * Axis warships | Writer7_1 = Art Pinajian | Penciler7_1 = Art Pinajian | Inker7_1 = Art Pinajian | StoryTitle7 = Invisible Justice: "The Scarlet Death" | Synopsis7 = | Appearing7 = Featured Characters: * Antagonists: * Dr. Moku Other Characters: * Professor Chase * Mr. Lane Locations: * Items: * Moku's device for making the invisible visible | Writer8_1 = Duane Byrd Monroe | Penciler8_1 = Duane Byrd Monroe | Inker8_1 = Duane Byrd Monroe | StoryTitle8 = Scarlet Seal: "Tong War" | Synopsis8 = | Appearing8 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Captain Pat Moore Villains: * Nicky Nessen * Sing Lee * Manchu Sing * the Hip Leong Tong * the On Sing Tong Other Characters: * Locations: * Items: * Vehicles: * | Writer9_1 = Vernon Henkel | Penciler9_1 = Vernon Henkel | Inker9_1 = Vernon Henkel | StoryTitle9 = Wings Wendall: "The Madness Serum" | Synopsis9 = | Appearing9 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Villains: * Other Characters: * Spinner Benson * Wescott * Diane; * Dr. Blade Locations: * Items: * Vehicles: * | Writer10_1 = Jack Cole | Penciler10_1 = Jack Cole | Inker10_1 = Jack Cole | Colourist4_1 = | Letterer10_1 = Jack Cole | StoryTitle10 = Midnight: "The Origin of Midnight" | Synopsis10 = | Appearing10 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Antagonists: * Morris Carleton Other Characters: * Locations: * Items: * Vehicles: * | Writer11_1 = Paul Gustavson | Penciler11_1 = Paul Gustavson | Inker11_1 = Paul Gustavson | Letterer11_1 = Paul Gustavson | StoryTitle11 = Magno: "Men Into Monsters" | Synopsis11 = A grotesque figure sloshes through a remote swamp with a limp girl over his shoulder, and in turn is stalked by Magno. The ghoulish figure vanishes into a deep spot in the marsh, but Magno dives in pursuit, and finds a set of stairs down into the murk, then another leading back up. He emerges in a masonry tunnel, and is soon jumped by a second swamp ghoul guy, wielding a two-handed axe. Magno knocks him out with an electrified punch, then resumes trailing the wet footprints of the kidnapper, through narrow corridors, up steep steps, and over dangerous catwalks, to the brilliantly-lit throneroom of the boss of this place. The boss, dressed in medical whites, is delighted to see this pretty new girl servant, and in mid-gloat he’s leapt upon by Magno. Three or more of the fanged, half-human monster-men intervene, and are able to subdue Magno, who is thrown into a dungeon, with about a hundred other male prisoners. They’re all scheduled to get turned into monsters. Magno plays possum on the floor until the monster-men return, and when two of them try to move him out of the way they get jolted unconscious. But wait, when they recover consciousness, their normal features have returned and their hair has regrown and their old personalities reassert themselves. Magno recruits these two guys to set free the others, then heads to the throneroom, fighting a series of monster-men along the way, and electrically transforming them back into their human forms. The still-unnamed mad scientist in charge of all this flees to his laboratory, where he pulls a death-ray pistol and aims it at Magno, but from across the room Magno pulls it out of his hand, then punches out the bad guy. He examines the pistol, which goes off just from being in his electrified hand, and destroys a big piece of mad-science equipment. Deducing that the ray is more powerful because of Magno’s charged body, he puts it to use, destroying the diabolical laboratory as the prisoners all escape. | Appearing11 = Featured Characters: * Antagonists: * unnamed mad scientist * several fanged monsters Other Characters: * unnamed girl Locations: * an elaborate mad-science citadel hidden under a swamp Items: * unnamed mad doctor's process for turning men into monsters * Magno's confiscated Ray Gun | Notes = * Espionage: ** Based on internal and previous timeline evidence, this Black X story is thought to have taken place circa 1940-Nov. In the Quality Universe, the USA has been at war, officially declared or not, against the European Axis, since probably about July 1939, when the first Axis task force bumped up against the Pan-American Caldwell Line blockade, back in Smash Comics #7. The blockade has later been replaced with an Atlantic-spanning suspension bridge in Hit Comics #4, and the war has been interrupted with several bipartite and international peace treaties. In any case, this story opens with Axis warships, plus a minefield, blockading Bermuda, facing down a US task force commanded by Admiral Jepson. * Magno: ** At the end of this story, the pretty girl is not visible nor accounted for, the mad scientist is unconscious but probably alive, and Magno has definitely confiscated that death-ray pistol for his own use. ** The unnamed mad villain's secret lair is a large subterranean masonry structure, accessible via a swamp, near Tom Dalton's home town. In , three issues later, Magno either finds a second large subterranean masonry structure, accessible via the swamp, or a second unnamed mad villain has adopted the abandoned base of this issue's monster-maker. * The Ray: ** Though Miss White is shot by one of her seven dwarfs, we don't see which one, and all seven are present with none objecting; in any case the Ray blasts them all into nothingness. ** The Ray can switch back to Happy Terrill's clothing and appearance just by thinking about it. ** The Ray can eavesdrop or visually observe events at great distances. ** The Ray can stop a passenger train by diving into its headlight. It may be a factor that the brakes were already applied. * Also featured in this issue of Smash Comics were: ** Wun Cloo: "The Accident Faker" by Gill Fox ** Jimmy Christian: "Aces of Death" (text story) by Robert M. Hyatt ** Archie O'Toole: "Lover's Island" by Bud Thomas | Trivia = * Alex Blum signed his Purple Trio story as "S.M. Regi." * Art Pinajian signed his work on Invisible Justice as "Art Gordon." * Bob Powell signed his pencil work on Wings Wendall as "Powell Roberts." * Duane Byrd Monroe, credited for Scarlet Seal, is probably a pseudonym. * George Brenner signed his work on Bozo the Iron Man as "Wayne Reid" * George Tuska signed his work on Archie O'Toole as "Bud Thomas." * Lou Fine signed his work on The Ray as "E. Lectron." * Will Eisner signed his work on Espionage as "Will Erwin." | Recommended = | Links = * Read the complete issue at the Digital Comic Museum * Smash Comics #18, Jan 1941 }}